Progress test "Audio Script". Track 1

Track 1

Callum:          Hi, Callum Robertson.

Helen:            Hello Callum. Helen Francis, from The Nation.

Callum:          Hi. How are you? Thanks for the email.

Helen:            I’m fine. Thanks for agreeing to do the interview. As I mentioned in the email, it’s pretty simple really. Just a few questions about the media. You can say as much or as little as you like.

Callum:          Fine, go ahead.

Helen:            OK … first question: which newspapers do you read?

Callum:          I don’t buy a newspaper every day because I don’t really have time to read one. I cycle to work every day and it’s a bit difficult to read a newspaper while you’re cycling. If I travel by train, I get one of the free newspapers, like the Metro that we have here in London. But when I get to work we have the daily papers here, so at lunchtime, I read The Guardian or I have a look at one of the tabloids.

Helen:            What about magazines?

Callum:          I subscribe to a computer magazine, Mac World, because I have a Mac at home and I like to keep up with what’s going on with Macs. And at work I look at some of the trade magazines and some other computer and Internet magazines, but apart from that I don’t spend a lot of time with magazines.

Helen:            Uh-huh. What do you watch on TV?

Callum:          I watch a great deal of television. I probably watch too much television. I like documentaries and comedies. I like American drama series like The Sopranos and ER and things like that. But I do have square eyes, I think.

Helen:            Do you ever listen to the radio, apart from the programmes you make?

Callum:          I listen to the radio a lot. I think it’s a great medium. When I’m cooking in the kitchen, I always have the radio on. When I’m in the bath, I have the radio on and when I go to sleep at night, I have the radio on. And it’s actually on throughout the night, and when I wake up in the morning I have the radio on. It’s mainly talk radio; news station BBC Five Live is the station I tend to listen to, that or Radio 4, another BBC station. I don’t listen to very much music on the radio, but I love the radio – it’s great.

Helen:            Can I ask you how you use the Internet?

Callum:          I use the Internet a great deal. At work it’s part of my job, and at home I use it a lot, obviously for email. And these days I use it for all of my banking and a lot of my shopping and so it’s an indispensable tool for me now, the Internet, for business use and for personal use.

Helen:            OK, finally, do you think the Internet is changing the way we use media? For example, do you think newspapers have a future?

Callum:          I think the Internet allows people to get their news from different places and do research. Er, but I don’t think the Internet will destroy newspapers, because having something physical in your hand, for reading and turning, is important. You can write on it, you can do the crossword on it. So, the Internet can give us a lot, but I don’t think it can ever replace newspapers.

Helen:            Great! That’s it. Thanks very much.

Callum:          My pleasure. I’m looking forward to the article!

Helen:            Well, we can send you a copy when it’s ready.

Callum:          Thanks, Helen. Goodbye.

Helen:            Goodbye.